Amos 1:14

1:14 So I will set fire to Rabbah’s ¹  city wall; ² 

fire ³  will consume her fortresses.

War cries will be heard on the day of battle; ⁴ 

a strong gale will blow on the day of the windstorm. ⁵ 

Amos 2:9-10

2:9 For Israel’s sake I destroyed the Amorites. ⁶ 

They were as tall as cedars ⁷ 

and as strong as oaks,

but I destroyed the fruit on their branches ⁸ 

and their roots in the ground. ⁹ 

2:10 I brought you up from the land of Egypt;

I led you through the wilderness for forty years

so you could take the Amorites’ land as your own.

Amos 4:2

4:2 The sovereign Lord confirms this oath by his own holy character: ¹⁰ 

“Certainly the time is approaching ¹¹ 

when you will be carried away ¹²  in baskets, ¹³ 

every last one of you ¹⁴  in fishermen’s pots. ¹⁵ 

Amos 4:6

4:6 “But surely I gave ¹⁶  you no food to eat in any of your cities;

you lacked food everywhere you live. ¹⁷ 

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

Amos 5:3

5:3 The sovereign Lord says this:

“The city that marches out with a thousand soldiers ¹⁸  will have only a hundred left;

the town ¹⁹  that marches out with a hundred soldiers ²⁰  will have only ten left for the family of Israel.” ²¹ 

Amos 5:15

5:15 Hate what is wrong, love what is right!

Promote ²²  justice at the city gate! ²³ 

Maybe the Lord, the God who commands armies, will have mercy on ²⁴  those who are left from ²⁵  Joseph. ²⁶ 

Amos 8:9

8:9 In that day,” says the sovereign Lord, “I will make the sun set at noon,

and make the earth dark in the middle of the day. ²⁷ 

[1:14]  ¹ sn Rabbah was the Ammonite capital.

[1:14]  ² sn The city wall symbolizes the city’s defenses and security.

[1:14]  ³ tn Heb “it”; the referent (the fire mentioned in the previous line) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “with a war cry in the day of battle.”

[1:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “with wind in the day of the windstorm.”

[1:14]  sn A windstorm is a metaphor for judgment and destruction in the OT (see Isa 29:6; Jer 23:19) and ancient Near Eastern literature.

[2:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “I destroyed the Amorites from before them.” The translation takes מִפְּנֵי (mippÿney) in the sense of “for the sake of.” See BDB 818 s.v. פָּנֻה II.6.a and H. W. Wolff, Joel and Amos (Hermeneia), 134. Another option is to take the phrase in a spatial sense, “I destroyed the Amorites, [clearing them out] from before them [i.e., Israel]” (cf. NIV, NRSV).

[2:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “whose height was like the height of cedars.”

[2:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “his fruit from above.”

[2:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “and his roots from below.”

[4:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “swears by his holiness.”

[4:2]  sn The message that follows is an unconditional oath, the fulfillment of which is just as certain as the Lord’s own holy character.

[4:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Look, certainly days are coming upon you”; NRSV “the time is surely coming upon you.”

[4:2]  ¹² tn Heb “one will carry you away”; NASB “they will take you away.”

[4:2]  ¹³ tn The meaning of the Hebrew word translated “baskets” is uncertain. The translation follows the suggestion of S. M. Paul (Amos [Hermeneia], 128), who discusses the various options (130-32): “shields” (cf. NEB); “ropes”; “thorns,” which leads to the most favored interpretation, “hooks” (cf. NASB “meat hooks”; NIV, NRSV “hooks”); “baskets,” and (derived from “baskets”) “boats.” Against the latter, it is unlikely that Amos envisioned a deportation by boat for the inhabitants of Samaria! See also the note on the expression “fishermen’s pots” later in this verse.

[4:2]  ¹⁴ tn Or “your children”; KJV “your posterity.”

[4:2]  ¹⁵ tn The meaning of the Hebrew expression translated “in fishermen’s pots” is uncertain. The translation follows that of S. M. Paul (Amos [Hermeneia], 128), who discusses the various options (132-33): “thorns,” understood by most modern interpreters to mean (by extension) “fishhooks” (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV); “boats,” but as mentioned in the previous note on the word “baskets,” a deportation of the Samaritans by boat is geographically unlikely; and “pots,” referring to a container used for packing fish (cf. NEB “fish-baskets”). Paul (p. 134) argues that the imagery comes from the ancient fishing industry. When hauled away into exile, the women of Samaria will be like fish packed and transported to market.

[4:2]  sn The imagery of catching fish in connection with the captivity of Israel is also found in Jer 16:16 and Hab 1:14.

[4:6]  ¹⁶ tn The Hebrew construction is emphatic (pronoun + verb). It underscores the stark contrast between the judgments that the Lord had been sending with the God of blessing Israel was celebrating in its worship (4:4-5).

[4:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “But I gave to you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of food in all your places.” The phrase “cleanness of teeth” is a vivid way of picturing the famine Israel experienced.

[5:3]  ¹⁸ tn The word “soldiers” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “The one.” The word “town” has been used in the translation in keeping with the relative sizes of the armed contingents sent out by each. It is also possible that this line is speaking of the same city of the previous line. In other words, the contingent sent by that one city would have suffered a ninety-nine percent casualty loss.

[5:3]  ²⁰ tn The word “soldiers” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “for/to the house of Israel.” The translation assumes that this is a graphic picture of what is left over for the defense of the nation (NEB, NJB, NASB, NKJV). Others suggest that this phrase completes the introductory formula (“The sovereign Lord says this…”; see v. 4a; NJPS). Another option is that the preposition has a vocative force, “O house of Israel” (F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Amos [AB], 476). Some simply delete the phrase as dittography from the following line (NIV).

[5:15]  ²² tn Heb “set up, establish.” In the ancient Near East it was the responsibility especially of the king to establish justice. Here the prophet extends that demand to local leaders and to the nation as a whole (cf. 5:24).

[5:15]  ²³ sn Legal disputes were resolved in the city gate (see the note in v. 12). This repetition of this phrase serves to highlight a deliberate contrast to the injustices cited in vv. 11-13.

[5:15]  ²⁴ tn Or “will show favor to.”

[5:15]  ²⁵ tn Or “the remnant of” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); CEV “what’s left of your people.”

[5:15]  ²⁶ sn Joseph (= Ephraim and Manasseh), as the most prominent of the Israelite tribes, represents the entire northern kingdom.

[8:9]  ²⁷ tn Heb “in a day of light.”